The Art Bootcamp spent years designing a Technical Course to teach the things that get overlooked in art school and the university, that is to say – a thorough understanding of artist’s materials and tools, what they are designed to do, when to chose them and how to guarantee that your paintings will be technically sound and permanent. This is an information-packed three-day course that does not overlook any aspect of what has proved to be the best practices over the centuries.

Supports and Grounds

Supports are at the very foundation of all painting. What we mean by the term support is whatever material the painting is painted upon – canvas, panels, plaster walls, metal, glass and plastic are but a few.

You will see a variety of ways in which wood panels were made historically and see how button cradling was employed to prevent warping and cracking. Then onto stable man-made materials such as Masonite, where you will learn to separate the myth from the reality. You will be taught the proper method of preparing composite panels as well as learning why common cradles do more harm than good.

Copper has come back into vogue as a painting support. You will be introduced to its advantages as well as how to properly prepare copper panels for painting. You will learn an excellent online source for custom-cut metal panels. Also demonstrated will be some of the more useful plastic substrates.

We will briefly touch on buon fresco but concentrate our efforts on preparing-existing walls with Gambier-Parry medium to allow any wall to accept and hold oils and acrylics. We will also touch on the use and application of marouflage, affixing a painted canvas to a wall.

Of course, the most common support is stretched canvas. It is also the most commonly botched. You will learn the advantages (and disadvantages) of linen, cotton, polyester and hemp canvas. The oft-neglected skills of picking and stoning prior to sizing will come as a revelation to most.

You may be shocked to learn that those little wedges included with most stretcher bars do more harm than good. We will teach you how to produce perfectly aligned canvases, no matter the size. You will learn to make stretchers for your large canvases with readily available materials as well as sources for high quality stretchers not sold in art shops.

We will demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of staples vs. tacks, which staples to use (Monel) as well as which tacks to avoid (copper clad). Using the methods we prescribe, you will distinguish your self by being among the very few painters who can stretch canvas without the weave making distracting curves and ripples as well as pulling the stretchers out of alignment.

Then it’s on to learning to make sizing for the canvas and how to “give the canvas a drink” to ensure flawless sizing. We’ll show how to make and apply the perfect rabbitskin glue sizing and discuss alternatives such as PVA. While we are sizing canvas, we will also learn to size paper in order to paint on it without it deteriorating. While we have the glues out, we will learn how to attaché canvas to a panel. There will also be a discussion on methods ranging from beeswax and resin adhesives to heat-activated adhesives.

All of the above is preparation for applying the ground. Whether it’s numerous coats of ivory-smooth traditional gesso, acrylic primer, traditional oil grounds, emulsion grounds and very attractive double grounds that add depth to the subsequent painting. You will learn how to apply a ground that provides a solid and lasting foundation for the painting that is to follow. We place great stress on two aspects of making a painting – the beginning (applying a perfect ground) and the end (applying a perfect picture varnish). Done properly, mastering those two techniques will protect what goes on between them, namely your painting.

We then move to better know our most common tool, the brush and why they are designed as they are – and what to expect from different configurations and types of hair (did you know that one style of brush was designed primarily for applying dark paint into the shadows?). You will be shown the proper way to handle and load the brush, to avoid having paint go into the ferrule and ruin the action of the brush and, very importantly, the proper way to clean and store those expensive brushes, prolonging their life for years. And here’s something you’ve probably never been shown…the seven hand positions for effectively using different drawing and painting tools (if golf clubs and tennis racquets need special grips, why not pencils and brushes?).

Gilding

For half a day, we turn the class over to a master gilder who will show you everything that you need to apply gold leaf to paintings, frames and anything else that strikes your fancy. You will also be shown different approaches for laying texture under the gold leaf, mastering the tools and techniques. This has proved to be one of the highlights of the Technical Course.

Paints, Mediums and Varnishes

At this point we move from the glitter of gold to the nitty-gritty of paints, mediums and varnishes. The discussion centers about various linseed oils (including Black Oil and Olio Verde), walnut, safflower and poppy seed oil and how each one has advantages and disadvantages that must be considered when making paint. Armed with that knowledge, we set off to make our own paint using oil, pigment and the appropriate amendments to aid in handling. You will grind your own paint and put it up into a tube. This is a skill that every artist should master. We will also discuss alkyds, their advantages and their very real disadvantages.

In addition to making oil paint, we will also make emulsion paints such as egg tempera, egg/oil emulsion, distemper, glue emulsion and the use of Amber Gum in Technique Mixte.

A great deal of misinformation swirls around various diluents (manufacturers are partly to blame with the misleading names they come up with, like Turpenoid). At this point we will have a clear and accurate discussion of the various common diluents such as Gum Turpentine (and the different grades of it), Mineral Spirits and Oil of Spike Lavender. All have their uses and this is the time when you will learn what those uses are and when to take advantage of them.

We also discuss various essential oils and amendments that can slow or speed up drying, such as Oil of Clove and Lead Napthanate. You will learn what the oft-misused terms of fat, lean and thixotropic really mean and how they are more flexible in use than most would suppose and how they relate to various painting mediums such as Maroger’s, Roberson’s, Copal, Wax and Pre-Raphaelite mediums. You will understand them well enough to know when to use one in preference to another. We end this part of the program with an introduction to the balsams such as Venice Turpentine and Canada Balsam and how they are used in producing very special effects in paint.

The next logical step from the balsams are the resins such as Copal, Damar and Mastic, which are oil-based and which are spirit based…and what the differences are. We will demonstrate the use of retouch varnish as an aid to unifying color between coats and also providing a non-slip tooth for subsequent paint layers. Then it’s on to one of the most important aspects of finishing a painting…the proper application of the picture varnish. This final varnish is what protects the paint from the elements as well as providing a unifying surface finish. We will demonstrate how to avoid that glassy look we so often see in poorly applied varnishes, and the dulling of the darks we see in most matte varnishes. You will learn that varnishing relies more on the person wielding the brush than on the varnish itself (although that is important, too). You will learn how to apply that rich Gallery Finish that is so admired but seldom seen outside of museums.

All that’s left to do is talk about the best way to pack and crate your pictures to protect them when they are being sent to shows. You’ll see our design for a crate that will withstand the worst abuse and still protect the painting inside. You will be able to make this crate from materials available at any DIY center.

There’s much, much more that we cover, but suffice it to say, these three days likely provide more information on the actual craft of painting than most learn in four or six years of art schools and ateliers.

The fun of school days is over. Being clueless is now getting old. Now is the time to learn about the craft of making paintings. It’s the best $550 you’ll ever spend.

Technical Course Details

Tuition for the three-day course is $550. We will supply maps and a list of lodgings.

Boston’s Logan airport connects to all corners of the globe. However, we urge you to consider the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, just over the border and very convenient to Haverhill.

We routinely open a private section of the Cennini Forum for bootcampers to introduce themselves and often make arrangements for sharing rides and rooms. All Boot Camp-specific questions are answered in that section.

For more information, contact Rob at mentor@artbootcamp.com.